Taylor Swift Through the Eras, From Day One to 'Midnights' and Beyond
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This "Mastermind" has come a mighty long way.
Taylor Swift is on her Eras tour, celebrating all of her album cycles from her self-titled debut to Midnights (and all of Taylor's Versions).
Related: How to Steal Taylor Swift's Midnights '70s Style
Swift burst onto the scene in 2006 with her debut single "Tim McGraw" from her self-titled album. Since then, she's become a bona fide pop culture icon, with everything from her love life, wardrobe choices, pets and petty feuds becoming cultural moments—but obviously, none so much as her music.
Swift successfully crossed over from country completely to pop with 1989, though the transition gradually began as early as "Love Story" and Fearless.
Related: The Best Gifts For the Swiftie In Your Life
She's shattered records, gotten her own Starbucks drink, made red scarves a major statement and re-recorded some of her biggest hits—all while releasing four brand-new albums in as many years. Phew!
Look back at Taylor Swift through the years from her first major red carpet appearance to today—and don't forget to look for Easter eggs all along the way, because there are several. They don't call her a "Mastermind" for nothing!
Related: The Funniest Misheard Taylor Swift Lyrics
See Taylor Swift through the years and reminisce on every single one of her iconic eras.
Taylor Swift hits up one of her first red carpets ever at the CMT Music Awards in Nashville on April 10, 2006. She was just 16 years old here!
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Was this one of Taylor Swift's first Easter Eggs ever? Here, Swift works the red carpet at the 42nd Academy of Country Music Awards on May 15, 2007. She'd later recreate almost this exact look for her "Love Story" music video in 2008.
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Taylor Swift performs onstage during the 43rd annual Academy Of Country Music Awards on May 18, 2008, in Las Vegas. Rain is a big recurring theme in her lyrics, including on the Midnights track "Midnight Rain."
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Talk about a throwback! Taylor Swift and Joe Jonas cozy up at the MTV VMAs on Sept. 7, 2008. Swift would later reveal that Jonas dumped her in a 27-second phone call, but they eventually buried the hatchet and became friends.
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Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift attend the premiere of Another Cinderella Story on Sept. 14, 2008, in Los Angeles. The pair became close when they each dated different Jonas Brothers, and their friendship far outlasted those romances.
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Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift's Best Female Video acceptance speech at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sept. 13, 2009, spawning a feud that would last more than a decade after the incident.
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Taylor Swift and then-boyfriend Taylor Lautner watch the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Los Angeles Kings at the Staples Center on Oct. 25, 2009. Lautner, with whom Swift co-starred in Valentine's Day, inspired Swift's song "Back to December."
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Taylor Swift poses with John Mayer at a VEVO launch party on Dec. 8, 2009. The pair collaborated on his song "Half of My Heart"—and he'd later inspire her hit "Dear John."
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Taylor Swift chats with rumored then-beau Cory Monteith at the Grammys Salute to Icons event on Jan. 30, 2010. The Glee star passed away from an overdose on July 13, 2013.
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Taylor Swift performs with Stevie Nicks at the Grammys on Jan. 31, 2010. A critic who panned Swift's vocals during the show inspired her song "Mean."
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Taylor Swift struggles to juggle all of her trophies at the Grammys on Jan. 31, 2010. She won Album of the Year and Best Country Album for "Fearless," Best Female Country Performance for "White Horse" and Best Country Song for "Fearless."
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Who needs shoes when you have melodrama? Taylor Swift performs "Innocent," inspired by Kanye West interrupting her at the 2009 MTV VMAs, on Sept. 12, 2010, at the MTV Video Music Awards.
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Taylor Swift and Shania Twain recreate the iconic car scene from "Thelma & Louise" for the CMT Music Awards in June 2011.
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Taylor Swift leans into her signature cozy fall vibes during her performance of "Ours" at the CMA Awards on Nov. 9, 2011.
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Taylor Swift performs with BFF Selena Gomez at New York City's Madison Square Garden on Nov. 22, 2011.
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Taylor Swift performs with her namesake, James Taylor, at a sold-out show at New York City's Madison Square Garden on Nov. 22, 2011.
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Ethel Kennedy and Taylor Swift attend the "Ethel" premiere held at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 20, 2012. Ethel Kennedy and her husband, Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy, inspired Swift's song "Starlight" from her album Red.
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Taylor Swift performs "Mean" at the Grammys on Feb. 12, 2012. The song was a clapback at a critic who dared to diss her vocals in a 2011 Grammys performance with Stevie Nicks.
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Taylor Swift shows off her wins at the Grammys on Feb. 12, 2012. Swift took home trophies for Best Country Song, Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Album.
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Zac Efron, Danny DeVito and Taylor Swift pose at the premiere of "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax" on Feb. 19, 2012.
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Blake Shelton imitates Taylor Swift's infamous surprised face as she accepts the Entertainer of the Year award at the Academy Of Country Music Awards on April 1, 2012, in Las Vegas.
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Taylor Swift poses with Lana Del Rey at the MTV EMAs on Nov. 11, 2012, in Frankfurt, Germany. Swift and Del Rey collaborated on the song "Snow on the Beach" for Midnights, released on Oct. 21, 2022.
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All hail Haylor! Taylor Swift and then-boyfriend Harry Styles walk in Central Park in New York City on Dec. 2, 2012.
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Taylor Swift and pal Ed Sheeran pose for a photo at Z100's Jingle Ball on Dec. 7, 2012. They've collaborated on several songs together, including "Everything Has Changed" and "Endgame."
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Taylor Swift arrives at the Golden Globes on Jan. 13, 2013. Hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler joked that Swift should "stay away from Michael J. Fox's son." When asked about the moment later in a Vanity Fair interview, she invoked a quote credited to Madeleine Albright: "There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women."
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Taylor Swift poses with her award for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the Grammys on Feb. 10, 2013. She won for "Safe & Sound," a collaboration with the group Civil Wars, for The Hunger Games soundtrack.
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Taylor Swift guest-stars on the "New Girl" Season 2 finale as Elaine in a scene reminiscent of her song "Speak Now." The episode, titled "Elaine's Big Day," aired on May 14, 2013.
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Taylor Swift beams as she clutches her trophies at the Billboard Music Awards on May 19, 2013.
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Carly Simon and Taylor Swift pose backstage after performing a special duet of Simon's hit "You're So Vain" to a sold-out crowd at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, as part of Swift's Red Tour on July 27, 2013.
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Taylor Swift performs at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on Nov. 13, 2013. It would be her first of two consecutive years performing at the televised lingerie event.
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Taylor Swift, Jon Bon Jovi and Prince William perform during the Winter Whites Gala In Aid Of Centrepoint on Nov. 26, 2013, in London.
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Taylor Swift accepts the Pinnacle Award from presenters George Strait, Keith Urban and Brad Paisley at the CMA Awards on Nov. 6, 2013.
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Taylor Swift performs her fan-favorite track "All Too Well" at the Grammys on Jan. 26, 2014.
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Taylor Swift, Jaime King, Gigi Hadid and Ireland Baldwin attend the Vanity Fair Oscar Party on March 2, 2014.
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Taylor Swift accepts the Dick Clark Award for Excellence at the American Music Awards on Nov. 23, 2014.
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Taylor Swift and her erstwhile BFF Karlie Kloss walk the runway at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show on Dec. 2, 2014. Kloss, who is friends with Swift's nemesis Scooter Braun, is rumored to be the inspiration for her 2017 song "This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things."
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Taylor Swift and Jay-Z play nice with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian at the Grammys on Feb. 8, 2015.
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The way they were: Calvin Harris beams at Taylor Swift at the Billboard Music Awards on May 17, 2015. After their 2016 split, the pair would briefly feud over her contributions to the hit "This Is What You Came For" featuring Rihanna.
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Kobe Bryant joins Taylor Swift onstage during her 1989 tour stop at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Aug. 21, 2015.
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Kanye West and Taylor Swift hug at the MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 30, 2015, in Los Angeles—six years after his infamous interruption.
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Taylor Swift accepts the Album of the Year award onstage at the Grammys on Feb. 15, 2016. She alluded to her feud with Kanye West in her speech, telling the crowd, "As the first woman to win Album of the Year at the Grammys twice, I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame, but, if you just focus on the work and you don't let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you're going you'll look around and you will know that it was you and the people who love you who put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world. Thank you for this moment."
At the time, she also was the only woman on the stage, as her collaborators for 1989 were all men.
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Taylor Swift rocks the red carpet at the Met Gala on May 2, 2016. Swift served as a co-chair of the event, which turned out to be a fateful night for her: It's where she met her now-ex (and rumored "Getaway Car" inspiration) Tom Hiddleston and, fans believe, her current beau Joe Alwyn.
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Hiddleswift, we hardly knew ye! Tom Hiddleston and Taylor Swift are spotted in Los Angeles on July 6, 2016. The outing comes just after the infamous "I Heart T.S." shirt at her Fourth of July party that year.
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Lyrics from the Taylor Swift song "Ours" are displayed across the street from the civil case of Taylor Swift vs. David Mueller at the Alfred A. Arraj Courthouse on Aug. 14, 2017, in Denver, Colorado. Swift won her assault and battery lawsuit against David Mueller, a former DJ who allegedly groped her during a photo op on June 2, 2013 at the Pepsi Center in Denver.
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Taylor Swift kept her public appearances to a minimum in her "Reputation" era, save for her live shows and televised performances (but no interviews). She's seen here at 102.7 KIIS FM's Jingle Ball on Dec. 1, 2017, in Inglewood, California.
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Taylor Swift poses in the press room during the Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Resort International on May 20, 2018, in Las Vegas. It was one of her first red carpet appearances following her self-imposed exile following her highly-publicized spat with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
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It's William Bowery! Taylor Swift and Joe Alwyn are pictured in one of the first sightings of the couple on Sept. 28, 2018, in New York City.
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Taylor Swift performs during the TIME 100 Gala 2019 Dinner at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 23, 2019, in New York City. It was her first performance of her "Lover" era.
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Taylor Swift's then-seemingly new LGBTQIA+ squad members flank her as she accepts the Video of the Year Award at the MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 26, 2019.
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Taylor Swift shows off her trophies backstage at the American Music Awards on Nov. 24, 2019 in Los Angeles.
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Taylor Swift attends the New York premiere of Cats on Dec. 16, 2019. Swift starred as Bombalurina in the messy film adaptation of the classic musical.
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Taylor Swift stuns at the Golden Globes on Jan. 5, 2020.
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Taylor Swift attends the Sundance Film Festival premiere of her Netflix documentary Taylor Swift: Miss Americana on Jan. 23, 2020.
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Taylor Swift performs "Betty" from folklore at the Academy of Country Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sept. 16, 2020.
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Jack Antonoff, Taylor Swift and Aaron Dessner perform onstage for the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards broadcast on March 14, 2021.
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Taylor Swift poses with Carole King at the 36th annual Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony on Oct. 30, 2021. Swift performed "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" in honor of the iconic singer-songwriter.
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Taylor Swift poses with Dylan O'Brien and Sadie Sink at the New York premiere of her "All Too Well" short film on Nov. 12, 2021. The film is based on her "All Too Well (10 Minute Version)" from Red (Taylor's Version) and is rumored to be about her tumultuous relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal.
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Taylor Swift waves at graduating students during New York University's commencement ceremony at Yankee Stadium on May 18, 2022. She dropped a Midnights lyric during her speech when she said, "Breathe in, breathe through, breathe deep, breathe out."
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Taylor Swift poses with awards backstage during 2022 MTV VMAs at Prudential Center on Aug. 28, 2022, in Newark, New Jersey. She announced her new album Midnights during the show's broadcast.
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Taylor Swift channels her inner golden goddess at "In Conversation With... Taylor Swift" at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 09, 2022. Swift was promoting All Too Well: The Short Film, but it ended up not getting any Golden Globe or Oscar nominations. The film is inspired by her romance with Jake Gyllenhaal and stars Sadie Sink (of Stranger Things fame) and Teen Wolf alum Dylan O'Brien—and yes, there is a scarf in it.
Nashville Songwriters Association International Songwriter-Artist of the Decade honoree Taylor Swift performs onstage during at Ryman Auditorium on Sept. 20, 2022, in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Taylor Swift rocked one of her sexiest looks ever on the red carpet at the MTV Europe Music Awards on Nov. 13, 2022.
Taylor Swift won big at the MTV Europe Music Awards on Nov. 13, 2022, taking home trophies for Best Artist, Best Video, Best Pop and Best Longform Video.
Taylor Swift cleans up at the American Music Awards, where she won Favorite Pop Album, Favorite Female Pop Artist, Favorite Music Video, Favorite Country Album, Favorite Female Country Artist and Artist of the Year, on Nov. 22, 2022, in Los Angeles.
Taylor Swift attends the Grammys on Feb. 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, where she won the Grammy for Best Music Video for All Too Well: The Short Film.
